High technology should be used to crack down on Internet pornography, according to an article in Global Times. An excerpt follows:

China is launching a nationwide campaign to crack down on pornographic websites. Over the past month about 30 domestic pornographic websites have been eliminated.

With Internet access becoming more widespread each day, minors have more opportunities to go online. And pornography on the Internet has become the biggest threat to the mental health of teenagers.

Porn websites are a global poison. There are more than 700,000 of them worldwide, and that number grows by 200-300 every day. How to shield young people from Internet porn is an increasingly difficult task.

Traditional measures have not been effective in this fight. It is a problem that demands high-tech solutions.

Investigations show that about 80 per cent of teenagers have entered porn websites on occasion. If proper filter technology is adopted, most pornographic content on the Internet can be blocked. And in recent years such technology has been greatly improved.

Traditional measures, such as refusing children access to computers or prohibiting them from going online, only serve to stoke their curiosity.

Most Chinese youth surf the Internet at home or in Internet cafes. Since the government has made great efforts to crack down on illegal Internet bars, parents should play a supervisory role at home. Advanced technologies should be made available to parents.

Parents should install filter software on home computers and master its use. And they should instruct their children to surf the Internet in a secure way.

In addition, parents should discuss Internet content with their children and be able to recommend good websites.

Using high technology to fight pornography on the Internet should not only depend on parents.

More kid-friendly websites are needed, along with developing methods for carrying out more international co-operation in fighting web porn.

(China Daily 07/27/2004 page6)